Day 14

Wow, double wow, what an incredible day.

We started out with a nice breakfast (must have our energy)....and off to the castle.   It was absolutely incredible.  It was built in the 11th century...yep, 11th.  And was the home of the Polish (well at least what we call modern Poland) king.  We  toured the rooms, the armory and all the country's jewels and valuables.....quite a show.  Of course no pictures were allowed. But it was so interesting how different their palace was from the French and German and English.  Also, what was really interesting, that after some  centuries, it was abandoned for 150 years....can you imagine and then becomethe home of the royalty again years later.   It had to be completely redone after 150  years of neglect.  We spent all morning touring and then after lunch we headed for the old city.  Wow, it was gorgeous.....a walking street led to the main square and with all the flower stands and cafes and restaurants, it was soooo beautiful.  I do wish that the sky was blue to get the good pics but it was not the case today.............very chilly, very very overcast and dark (with fog) all day.  But at least not rain today.  WE finished the day by walking (along way) to the Shindler Museum which really is the Krakow modern history museum.  It describes the story of Krakow and its inhabitants from 1939 to 1946.  The musuem (we think) was sponsored by Spielberg because it truly was incredible.  It was the best modern style museum I have visited.  It told the story of Krakow from 1939 through the occupation by the Nazis, the camps, the labor camps,  the concentration camps, the tortures, the killings and finally the horrible "liberation" of the Russians where they went fromthe pan into the fire.  It was truly an incredble story.  We walked back home....another long long walk  and finally made it to our Jewish neighborhood (near our hotel) for a well deserved beer.  Then back home to rest for 15minutes and back out to dinner.  Dinner we wanted a nearby place (no more walking) and found one that was truly incredible.....it was a Polish restaurant and we had porogies (sp), rye soup served in large round bread rolls....and finally pork and stuffed cabbage......wow, super wow.  Then we ended the meal with a large shot of special Polish vodka.....honey flavored.  What a day!!!!!

WE are near passing out from fatigue but the day was soooo great.  Tomorrow it is Auschwitz....another downer.....but what an experience to see these places.  Speaking of, we learned that there was another huge "labor"camp right outside the city....just a mile or so fromthe Schindler factory that housed 1500 Jews for work.....it also became a death camp late inthe war.  We learned so much about Schindler and his personality and what he really did for the workers....he was quite a person.......like him or not....he was definitely not a saint, but a very very smart business man who was compassionate.  We also learned abut other people who risked their lives to help the Jews during thwar.....again that museum was an incredible expereince!!!!

Tomorrow, early............off to Auschwitz!!!